The longer you hold onto things the better off you are. This should be a no-brainer. But get-rich-quick impulses drive people to seek the so-called easy money. Too many people think they can “beat the system” and win. Probably because they started saving way too late in life and have too much time to try to make up for. But better a few years of slow and steady saving, than a quick flash in the pan to see what little you have go up in flames. Here are a few time-tested tips.

Tip #1

Statistically, if you keep doing the daily stock trading, trying to outguess the market, you will lose (unless you are genius and even then some of your success may just be luck). You are better off buying some Index Funds and keeping them until after you retire. Don’t sell them when the market dips or tanks. Keep buying when the market dips and tanks. The rebounds from these market corrections can be huge. But you’ll miss them if you’ve sold everything out of panic and then are too much of a Nancy to get back into the market.

Tip #2

Doing constant vehicle hopping will rob you of your retirement faster than the angry grizzly bear mother whose cubs’ path you just crossed. If you are one of these bozos who keeps buying (or worse yet, leasing) a new rig every few years, then I sure hope you are rich already and have plenty of money to blow – because if you aren’t rich you’ll never get there at this rate. I can assure you that many of my friends, coworkers, and neighbors are giving their retirement away to the auto makers and their whore finance partners. Don’t do it.

Tip #3

And if you are doing the house flip-flopping thing, thinking you are slowly climbing the property ladder on your way to easy street as you trade up houses, you may just be disappointed. In very few markets is a house ever a good investment. Do the math. I have. With mortgage interest, taxes, insurance, and maintenance, your house better be in a double-digit bubble or you are losing money big time. You are much better off to buy a modestly sized house and stay it in forever, like our grandparents did.

Just Do It

Don’t panic and sell all your Index Funds when the stock market tanks. Drive that old rig until she bites the dust completely. Stay in that more modest, nearly paid-for house. The road to riches is a slow simmer. Quick speculation is always more risky. The trick is to buy quality and keep it for the long haul.

Do you think you can do smart things with your money? You can. But if you say you can’t, you probably won’t. If you say you will, then you’ll surely find a way.